I haven't done a thing to it, except admire it, and try to determine whether I should try to make it into an informal upright by developing an axex over the center of the trunk, or let it be a slant by developing the apex over to the right.

Holy crap...where do you guys find raw material like that, its so unfair!

I don't get the formal upright though, its got a bit of a bend in the trunk. It already looks moyogi to me? Its not really slanting so much as it has movement in the trunk...But then again...what do I know, right...

Can somebody please tell me if it's even possible to get flare like that with out significant lateral root work? I'm assuming though field grown they must have limited vertical roots it pruned them several times during this trees development

I ordered it before I went to Boons Intensive because I knew after I went there I would be unhappy with my material.

I'm glad I did.

I'll get more pics up. The side shown is going to be the front. The problem is the trunk is thick! (I know what you're thinking. Of course the trunk is thick!). What I mean is the trunk is even thicker on the backside of the tree. Which means i will need a wide pot. Front to back, the nebari is 13 inches. All the pots at my local shop that had that depth were huge! And deep. (Height). Which took away from the trunk, in my eye.

I've searched some Japanese sites, and they have wide pots that would not be as tall, which is what I think I need. Of course, they're expensive, and shipping virtually doubles the price!

I'm going to be leading a workshop next week at the bonsai shop on pines, and I'm going to use this tree as part of that. It was decandled last summer, and many of the new buds have 4, 5, or even 6 new summer candles, which should be reduced to two. (As we all know). I will demonstrate that, and a little basic wiring.

I'm taking the potting Intensive at the end of January. I'll pot this one soon after that. So, I need to order a pot from Japan because it might take a couple of months for shipping.